Monday, August 5, 2013

The Inspiring Work of Walter Linsenmaier

When I was around 9 or10 years old I remember looking at a Life magazine and seeing the amazing insect illustrations of Walter Linsenmaier,(1917-2000). " His gift for drawing and painting, together with his lifelong interest in the animal world led to his vocation - the study of zoology, and the drawing and painting and photography of animals."

A few years later, Life magazine published a large book entitled "The Wonders of Life on Earth", published in 1960, which contained many of the drawings and paintings that I had seen in earlier in Life Magazine plus some new ones of Linsenmaier's work. My parents gave me the book as a gift and it quickly became one of me favorite possessions.

Ever since I was a child I have been extremely interested in insects and
had several of my own collection. Mr. Linsenmaier's drawings
exemplified the beauty that I had always seen in them. The drawings were
much more interesting than photographs because it was evident that he
had really looked very closely at them.

Years later in 1979 while visiting a library, I found an book, "Insects of the World" and I checked it out again and again so that I could read and study his beautiful drawings. In 1991 I finally obtained a copy of this out of print book, when a bookstore in Jackson, Wyoming found it for me.

Though I have done many small drawings and painting from his book, I now am inspired to create a series of ceramic bas-relief tiles based on his drawings of insects.